Scarface: The World is Yours Wii Review

Scarface: The World is Yours centres around one of film's most iconic creations; Tony Montana. This crude Miami drug lord famously plunges into his pool at the end of an epic gun fight. The game gives you the chance to recreate film history, and escape the mansion rather than perish. The raid does however leave you firmly at the bottom of the Miami drug scene, your mission? To rebuild your empire.

This leaves the game in a rather unique position. It is still in essence a game based on a movie, but the story of the game is left open to the creator's imagination, with a solid character background all ready in place. Unfortunately, in an area in which it could have thrived, it somewhat fails to deliver. Scattered between countless drug runs, murder, escort missions and other various side missions is a story struggling to keep pace with the rest of the game. By the time the next plot point arises, you've forgotten the previous cinematic.

However, if you enjoy games of the Grand Theft Auto variety then you will not be disappointed. A quite obvious copy of the acclaimed series, Scarface builds upon an already popular genre rather than trying to recreate it. This leaves for a familiar but enjoyable experience.

One of the focal points of the Wii version is, of course, its use of the Wiimote. The main application, as you might have guessed, is aiming. This is done in two ways, you can either auto aim switching between targets much like in Grand Theft Auto, or you can manually aim via the use of the Wiimote for more precise shots that can lead to some rather painful injuries.

To make manually aiming more rewarding the game increases your "balls" metre with each successful manual hit. The "balls" metre can also be filled via taunting your enemies, driving badly or conversing with various citizens of Miami. Once full Tony can enter a rage, making him invulnerable and regenerating health with every kill.

You can't shoot your way to the top of the tree though, and this is where Tony resorts to what he knows best, drugs. Earning money is critical to rebuilding his empire and regaining the respect he has lost. Money is an integral part of Tony's life. Whether it be pimping out his mansion, buying businesses to increase his turf, or bribing cops and gangs to keep them off his back. All of this helps increase the respect Tony has, which in turn keeps the story moving.

With such a focus on cash, Scarface meanders around in dull side missions that become grating in later hours. Dealing drugs, laundering money, bribing cops, and intimidating gangs are all performed through a weak interface that mimics classic golf games. You simply press a button and time it correctly so you've filled it to the correct spot. Nothing has been done to create a new system for the hardware. It's repetitive, and it's harder to miss than it is to succeed.

Graphically Scarface is what we've come to expect with most of the Wii titles released to date, disappointing. By today's standards the graphics generated by the Wii are abysmal, but we knew that already and anyone buying a Wii with expectations of anything else is deluded. You buy the Wii for its innovative use of controls. On this front Scarface could have done better, but it isn't a complete disaster.

One area in which Scarface excels is the acting. Generally all characters are played very well, but one in particular stands out. The actor who plays Tony Montana deserves an Oscar; it is nothing short of genius. Al Pacino himself would have been proud of the voice acting of Tony in this game, it really does sound EXACTLY the same as the great man himself portrayed him. This helps immensely with the taunting and general dialogue of Tony. And while the novelty wears off after a while, I felt incredibly cool playing one of my favourite characters in film to date.

Summary

Overall Scarface is a decent game, and fans of Grand Theft Auto and the film shouldn't be disappointed with this offering. Just being able to feel like I was Tony Montana, if only for a short time, made it worthwhile for me. Although the Wii version is clearly just a modified port of an older PS2 and Xbox title, it could be worth picking up until the Wii's library becomes more mature and diverse.